Ridgewood girls track team presents awards

    The Ridgewood girl’s track team held its postseason banquet Wednesday evening, May 19, at Cambridge High School.

    A potluck dinner was held followed by a movie featuring the track team and awards.

    Haley Wirth, Ridgewood girls’ track coach, said a number of thank you’s. She thanked boys’ coaches, John Siebken and Charlie Brown; Kevin Walsh for figuring out all of the transportation; the secretaries’ office in both schools for their cooperation; the girls for all their hard work throughout the season and assistant coach Kim Jansen for being her right arm.

    Team members were introduced. They are freshmen Katie Stevenson, Molly Smith, Haley Schmoll, Kendall McKie, Katy Keeney, Rikki Carmichael and Kylie Carey; sophomores Kayla VanWatermeulen, Rachel Swanson, Brianne Swanson and Aly Smith; juniors Emily Peterson, Jessica Nail, Chelsea Mitro, Kalli Humphrey and Lauren Funai and seniors Jennifer Saulnier, Jena Peterson, Amy Henry, Danyelle English and Dana DeSutter.

    As the girls were introduced they were presented with their letter and track pin.

    “We had an awesome season,” stated Jansen. “It was fun to come to practice everyday and I am so proud of how hard the girls worked during the season. We had a great showing a sectionals and a lot of personal bests.”

    Nail earned the most points for the season, 118. Athletes earned points depending upon meet participation and points scored at each meet. DeSutter placed second with 110 1/2 and English was third with 99.

    The coaches presented LTC and Sectional Medals.

    Swanson earned a fifth place medal at the LTC meet for the 3200-meter relay.

    Humphrey placed fourth in the 1600m relay at the conference meet and sixth in the 200m dash.

    Saulnier finished sixth in both the 800m relay and 400m relay events at conference.

    English placed second in discus at the LTC meet and fifth at the sectional meet.

    Emily Peterson came in fifth during high jump at the conference meet, fourth in the 1600m relay and fifth in the 3200m relay.

    Henry placed sixth in the 800m relay and sixth in the 400m relay at the LTC meet. At sectionals, she placed fifth in the 800m relay.

    Aly Smith won four medals at the conference meet. She placed fourth in the 400m dash,  800m run and 1600m relay and finished fifth in the 3200m relay.

    Nail also took home four medals from the LTC meet. She placed second in the 800m run, fifth in the 400m dash and 3200m relay and sixth in the 1600m run.

    Jena Peterson placed fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the 800m relay and 400m relay at the conference meet. At sectionals, she placed fifth in the 800m relay.

    DeSutter placed fourth in the 1600m relay and triple jump, fifth in the long jump and sixth in the 800m relay at the LTC meet. At sectionals, she placed fifth with the 800m relay team.

    Molly Smith won four medals at each meet. At the conference meet, she placed second in the 300m hurdles, third in the 100m dash, fourth in the 200m dash and sixth in the 400m relay. At sectional, she placed fifth in the 800m relay, sixth in the 300m hurdles and 100m dash and eighth in the 200m dash.

    In 2007, Nail broke the school record in the 800m run with a time of 3:32.9. At sectionals, both Aly Smith and Nail broke the record with times of 2:32.79 and 2:32.74, respectively.

    Team awards were presented to conclude the banquet.

    Jena Peterson was named the team’s best sprinter. Nail was chosen as the best distance runner. DeSutter was selected as the best jumper and English as the best thrower. Aly Smith received an award for being the most versatile and Molly Smith was named the most valuable newcomer, ranking up 96 points her freshman year. McKie was named most improved trackster of the season and Saulnier and Henry were presented the Spartan Spirit awards.